


Romeo and Romeo

by Shira_yu_ki



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, And a little Miscommunication and Misunderstandings, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Conspiracy, Gen, Government Conspiracy, I don't even read a newspaper TBH, Looks like a love story?, Mental Health Issues, Mentions of World War III, No countries were harmed in the making of this fic, Not based on facts, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other additional characters to be added, Pure impromptu imagination, The story is about World Politics, Viktor is one too, Which lead to Not so Little Things, Yuuri is a Politician, completely fictional - Freeform, international politics, not quite a love story, okay maybe a little, or something along those lines
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-19 09:06:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14870852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shira_yu_ki/pseuds/Shira_yu_ki
Summary: Once upon a time there lived two rival families in the city of Verona. Their frequent clash and fights caused so much of a conflict that the Prince had to intervene announcing any further bloodshed to be punishable by law. One fine evening destiny played its game......OrA Victuuri fic set in a Romeo&Juliet x Modern x Politics AU which isn't about Romance, but they still come together and save the world.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello people!
> 
> Thanks for reading my stuff~^^
> 
> This is my first time writing a series and I don’t know what I’m expecting but I’ve tried not to make it poor. A Yuri!!! on Ice fic set in future that no one asked for but I’m writing it anyway.
> 
> If you’ve decided to read it then please do it with patience. 
> 
>  
> 
> PS- Do not expect fancy, breath-taking, mesmerizing words in the summary coz I made it on my own :p

Once upon a time there lived two rival families in the city of Verona. Their frequent clash and fights caused so much of a conflict that the Prince had to intervene announcing any further bloodshed to be punishable by law. One fine evening destiny played its game and two persons crossed paths unaware of the events that were to follow by their fateful encounter. A young girl in her early teens stepped onto the dance floor to attend a ball arranged by her father to find her a worthy candidate for courtship and marriage. A young man, also in his teens, had sneaked in with his cousin to catch a glimpse of a girl he was infatuated with.However, they met each other instead and danced together till dawn, forgetting the world beyond. The girl seemingly fallen at first sight, professed her love standing in her balcony unaware of him hiding behind a tree.The man who’d been easily swept off his feet that evening, made his presence known with a promise that they’d bewed the very next day. They parted their ways in hope of a happy reunion, but fate had other plans. Her cousin died the next day by the hands of her beloved. Charges were made on the man of having allegedly murdered a rivals' kin and he was ordered to exile. The girl however had faith and went to see him in his place of hiding where they exchanged wedding vows.The man left for exile promising to returnsoon and take her with him. And they parted ways again only to fall victim to what fate had furtherplanned for them. The father of the girl forced her to agree upon a marriage with a man of his choice. The girl having left no means, took a potion to make her sleep for 2 whole days so as to appear dead.Plan was to spare enough time for her husband to come fetch her from the grave when she awakens. Things didn’t go as planned as the message did not reach her lover who in turn mourned and rushed to her slaying anyone coming his was. He lamented his inability to have been by her side and drank a vial of poison to join her in afterlife. The girl woke up just then only to find her husband lying beside her lifeless. She cried out in agony and stabbed herself to death with the dagger of her beloved. Soon people arrived and the priest narrated their tale to what had caused these young lovers to have such a tragic end. Moved by their love and devotion to each other, their families finally melted and ended their years’ long enmity. Peace embraced the city and all bloodshedwas forgotten washed away by their blood spilled in the name of love.

 

That was the story of Romeo and Juliet. A tragic classic romance by William Shakespeare in a medieval setting. The story I wish to tell is something along those lines but not quite the same.

 

Romeo and Romeo is not a tragic classic romance in a medieval setting. It’s a story of two men unknown to each other in the beginning who seem to have some common tastes and a huge aim of life. They meet each other by fate and fate alone. Their lives change considerably by the events that follow their meeting leading them to team up and work towards their shared goal.

 

A story set in a timeline 47 years from now, in a modern setting with emerging political tension, of how their union changes the fate of the world. The world moves forward with increasing pace setting various historical and technological milestones along the years. Various peace treaties have been signed and there are lesser minor conflicts nowadays regarding land and power, which may look good but is not quite healthy considering everything else that might lead to another disastrous war scenario. Even though the UN has been more democratic and USA’s denuclearization campaign is proceeding in full fledge, there are still conflicting opinions among different countries concerning their personal safety against others. Regardless of the mistrust still prevailing among certain countries, everything seems to go pretty well as efforts are made to make the world a better and safer place for everyone.


	2. Once Upon a Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sunsets often had a charming yet calming effect. There are times when one feels down, seeks for inspiration or simply wants some peace and quiet. Those are the times when one tries to connect with the nature. Walking along the beach on such days, with the sea breeze blowing against you and the smell of salt in the air was a nice experience. And autumn sunsets were the nicest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A brief introduction about the protagonists and their work life.  
> Yuuri is an artist at heart.  
> Viktor is really smart.

 

 **“**   _Once upon a time there lived two rival families in the city of Verona.”_

 

 

It was autumn in the year 2065, the season of fall, when the trees shed their leaves looking nothing short of scanty trunks and branches perfectly painted in a landscape. On such an auspicious occasion, Yuuri was sitting in the airport dreading his luck. It wasn’t the spring when the Sakura bloomed, or the summer with gentle winds and a clear sky. Nor was it the winter when he could feel the familiar chill of snow.

 

But somehow the season of fall looked surprisingly beautiful in Japan, even without the cherry blossoms in full bloom, snow in the winter or clear sky of the summer. The days were normally windy. Sky seemed to change colours. The autumn foliage appeared in contrasting shades of brown, red and yellow making the landscapes look unfairly gorgeous.

 

The sunsets often had a charming yet calming effect. There are times when one feels down, seeks for inspiration or simply wants some peace and quiet. Those are the times when one tries to connect with the nature. Walking along the beach on such days, with the sea breeze blowing against you and the smell of salt in the air was a nice experience. And autumn sunsets were the nicest.

 

Yuuri tried not to wonder too much about those things, but he couldn’t help it. If people were to judge him for having a vivid imagination, so be it. He was an artist after all. He tried to focus on the work at hand, but how could he when he could spend his time observing the hues right now? Or anything better and practically constructive. It wasn’t like there was much to do though. He was waiting in the airport with the rest of his group for the arrival of a certain VVIP flight. Why did people even call such things work?

 

If he was to be with honest with himself, he was getting bored just sitting there and waiting. He looked around to find the same  _‘bored and relegated to fate’_  expression on the faces of his fellow government officials. It was in times like these that he often wondered if this was what he had wanted in his life. And the answer was always a big “YES!!!” with three exclamations for emphasize.

 

Life wasn’t bad. It was too good to be bad.

 

Even if he couldn’t pursue his dream of representing his country in the Olympics, he still wanted to be of service to his people. So when he was offered a chance after graduating, he had decided to join politics. It wasn’t solely his decision, but he was suggested that his recent graduation with a Physics major, along with his experience as an athlete was just the perfect thing for him to represent and work for the youth of his country. He being a top figure skater in Japan while he was competing only added to his fan club turned vote bank. Achievements aside, he considered himself very lucky for having gotten the chance to change the world outside from inside the system. He got really lucky because people would give anything to be in his place. He was a member of the MEXT after all, a high ranking one at that, at least in his age.

 

His job was noble. Correcting, modifying and evaluating the education system was not child’s play. One does not take risks in things which affect the future of a country. So he did all he could to help the students and researchers because that was the ultimate resource development.

 

His fellow government officials were not just  _any government officials_ , they were the heads of different ministries waiting with him. He was the youngest one among them and hence, the most inexperienced. But they insisted that he came along, saying that he was young and intelligent  _and very popular_  which will help them get the good impressions on their side. So now he was here trying to be an asset for his country, dressed in suit and holding a bouquet, waiting 15 minutes before the flight’s scheduled arrival, thinking what resources he could develop like this.

 

* * *

 

 

Cool wind blew through the windows scattering a stack of papers from the desk. The weather was cooler than the day before. Anyone paying a little bit of attention would know that the winter would be arriving soon. Soon it would be snowing out there and people would be celebrating like it’s some kind of festival. But no one has time to pay attention, Viktor mused staring out of the window taking in the scenery. Golden, yellow and orange, all too beautiful.

 

It was often in times like these that he wondered if there could have been more to life than just weekdays in the office and weekends in an ice rink. Winters meant festival for him too, an opportunity to go and skate outdoors with the crowd without standing out too much. Well, that was a very understating summary of his current routine life. He worked everyday sitting at his office desk with stacks of paper that kept on piling, without any sign of ceasing. And if somehow he managed to get a few hours to himself some weekends, he would spend that skating at a nearby ice rink.

 

His musings were interrupted when he heard the sound of clearing of throat by a gruff old voice. Turning his face away from the window he came face to face the man who was now glancing his way from across the table. Rolling his eyes, he bent down to gather the papers.

 

“Is this how you treat your colleagues Mr. Feltsman?” Viktor was sitting in Yakov's office waiting for him to finish reading a file so they could make  _some_ progress in their scheduled meeting, which was officially over 30 minutes earlier.

 

“Do not miss a single sheet from that Vitya” came a curt reply.

 

“I’m the Foreign Affairs Minister, Yakov, not your assistant.”

 

“Your job is to assist  _me_ nonetheless.”

 

Yakov was the vice-president of Russia and Viktor's legal guardian. It was because of him that he was even here. He had always wanted to be a professional figure skater but had taken up economics in higher studies, murdering his dream because of Yakov's repeated warnings that figure skating was queer's sport and he’d face problems because of it in Russia, even at this date. Being a politician wasn’t an easy job even if you are the single ruling party. He knew Yakov had seen many things in his life and he meant well. So he had relented thinking it was for the best. He was good in mathematics, and economics was something that interested him, so why not go for it? That was what led him where he was today after all and he was quite satisfied with it. However, that was the only time when he had actually listened to Yakov.

 

“As long as it’s something related to  _my_ department!”

 

“About that,” Yakov closed his file and looked up wearing a serious expression. Viktor might be reckless and may even agree that he indeed did stupid things, but he was wise enough to know how a serious looking Yakov meant only business. He sat up a bit straighter. “The US President is visiting Japan today.”

 

Viktor winced, “Again?” Yakov confirmed nodding in affirmation.

 

It’s been years, no decades, since America was trying to expand its denuclearization campaign to Russia, although the direct chat on that topic had started just a few years ago. USA had taken many countries under its wing, gaining allies over the years.

 

A minor dispute started when Russia straightaway rejected US's request of surrendering its nuclear weapons. Russia was reluctant considering the west's behaviour towards it even decades after the Second World War and Cold War. US was also determined stating it did what it did for the common goal of global peace and nuclear weapons were a threat to the planet, so Russia should cooperate.

 

Nothing remains minor in politics for too long and this didn’t either. Several meetings and discussions later, the results remained futile as both the sides held their grounds and the topic remained hanging between them. It’s been a while now that Russia suspected US might be losing its patience and try to make them surrender by force. The news of the President’s frequent visits to Japan did nothing to easy Viktor's nerves.

 

He excused himself refreshing his mental ‘to-do list' putting ‘Gathering Intel’ at the top of everything. Of course, there will be discussions in the next UN meeting and hopefully everything will go well. However, in case things went south, they should be ready for the inevitable before it’s too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are some facts-
> 
>  
> 
> 1\. 15 minutes is too much for Yuuri, he’s Japanese after all.
> 
> 2\. MEXT is the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan. Yuuri is an eligible candidate because of his sports and science background, and he represents the youth striving to make the education system better (than it already is) for them.
> 
> 3\. I made Yakov the vice-president even if Russia doesn’t have one right now. But this is a fic, one that is set 47 years from today. Also I’ve someone else planned for the President so yes, this is happening.
> 
> 4\. Viktor’s choice of subject is Economics. Maths is something he is good at.
> 
>  
> 
> This is the first one and hopefully the shortest chapter. The next ones are gonna be lengthier.


	3. In the City of Verona

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “There are limits to what you can do, Yuuri. You’re not a character out of a shounen manga. Being a perfectionist is good; just don’t have any illusions of an ideal world. Things would be flawed only to be made better the next time. That’s what life is all about.” She would say “Were just humans. We cannot control everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little cold conflict and confused misunderstandings.  
> A brief visit to NY.  
> Little mentions of General Assembly meeting.  
> Slight mention of the Security Council.
> 
> (No countries, governments, or international organisations were harmed in the making of this chapter)
> 
> Protagonists' POV of the socio-economic and political situation, along with their personal lives.  
> Yuuri is having a monotonous life while Viktor is somehow managing his.

**  
**

_“Their frequent clash and fights caused so much of a conflict that the Prince had to intervene announcing any further bloodshed to be punishable by law.”_

Autumn was nearing its end. The weather was breezy. Birds flew across the sky. Dried leaves rustled and fell onto the ground. The sky was painted crimson, orange and yellow with a little purple here and there. Clouds appeared with a contrast of dirty blond and saffron, lined with threads of golden. Slanting rays coloured the foliage in reddish brown shades.

 

The serene view was beautiful enough to make even painters and poets stop in their tracks and spare a moment to gaze into the horizon, bewitched by the vivid spectrum splayed upon a vast stretch of canvas by the setting sun.

 

Beautiful wasn’t the right word for it, for how could just beauty describe that allure of amazingly, wonderfully, winsome sight at display. Similes or metaphors, imagery or alliteration, no figure of speech could ever do justice in portraying nature as it is. They either exaggerate or do not reach its standards. Words are limited to their literal and figurative meanings, but nature is beyond words, naturally so, because it was just there. It was there before the existence of languages or civilizations, ever-present, ever-evolving since time immemorial, everlasting like time itself. We may see it through the mind’s eye, try to paint it on a surface, compare it with a mental framework or try to explain it using words. We cannot, however, determine its boundaries for it is boundless and we are bound to it, because that’s the natural order of things, because we are a part of it; nothing special, simply natural.

 

That’s the word we use- ‘natural’. But it sounded so dull and boring in comparison to the innumerable adjectives that could be used instead. That wasn’t how the poets would phrase their verses, staring out of their windows on a lonesome day. They’d take in whatever the world has to offer and live in that moment, drowning in inspiration. Quills would float upon sheets of white when consciousness returns along with the ability to form coherent thoughts.

 

And then they talk; about the warmth of the sun, and the coolness of the moon, the twinkling of stars and the fragrance of flowers. And the smell of freshly cut grass.

 

They’d talk about the odour of earth after rain, and brooks in hilly terrain, about birds returning their home, and maybe even the colour of the ocean after a storm.

 

It’s strange how things seem extraordinary when we explain them using fancy words, maybe because imagination too is far beyond words. While in truth, things are very ordinary and natural.

 

It seems even stranger how after so many years of evolution, of man and technology alike, people wouldn’t blink twice when drones passed by, but stop to glace at a beautiful sunset.

 

* * *

 

 

Yuuri snapped out of his thoughts and resumed his evening jog. He ran past the park and entered into his residential complex. It was halfway through November already. The days were getting shorter. Soon it would be winter bringing along the snow with it. Soon the air in the market place would have the fruity smell of freshly baked cakes mixed with it and Christmas carols could be heard in the background.

 

“Tadaima!” The door to his apartment opened after his voice was recognised.

 

“Okaeri!” came the reply in perfect mechanical monotone.

 

How very natural! Yuuri chuckled thinking about the sudden change from a lively sunset view to a semi-automatic, completely modernized house which looked like it might have directly popped out of a sci-fi novel.

 

It was good.

 

Having lesser number of youth and being more technologically advanced, Japan had easily adapted to the present scenario, by some miracle, also managing the employment rates somehow. Not that much of a miracle actually. Rule was to have the creative and intellectual work done by humans and leave the mostly manual based labour to the machines. That way things would be faster and better.

 

That way some other things would also seem surreal.

 

Too much work by machines meant too less work for the people. If they decided to be lazing around, there was no one to question that. Yet. Even though things had changed a lot, laws were yet to be made for people not engaging in anything constructive. The problem hasn’t arisen yet as things are still semi-automated. But if recent history was anything to go by, that day wasn’t too far when everything _would_ _be_. And that leaves people jobless. Jobless with enough resources for a livelihood and more than enough free time. As the saying goes, empty mind is devil’s workshop. Lots of free time and not that lot to do was not a very pleasant way to go nuts. At least people weren’t that insane. Yet.

 

* * *

 

 

So much had changed in the past few years.

 

Speaking of changes, a major one had just happened in Japan. No, it isn’t about the Global Climate change! That was already considered a won battle since a few years ago when UN had come up with a subject like “The world being doomed without sustainable development” or something along those lines.

 

Anyway, the thing was about the International Student Exchange Programme (ISEP), which opened wider scopes for young and aspiring students. Yuuri was rather pleased about it. Maybe that was the only reason keeping him from categorizing the events of about a month ago as a complete wastage of time. This was the reason he was waiting very, very patiently at the airport nearly a month ago, to receive the President of United States.

 

Don’t judge him for it. What was he supposed to do anyway? Feel lucky? Grateful? Of having gotten the chance to receive the President? He might have felt all such things before, but now, as a Minister, he had better things to do with his time.

 

And why was his presence required when almost a quarter of the ministry heads were there with him too. So many people just to fetch one person? Maybe the said person wasn’t just _any_ _person_ , but still. They even went there 20 minutes earlier!

 

Whatever might happen, Yuuri could never in his life, underestimate the value of time. Being born to a hot spring resort does that to you, especially when punctuality and public bathing have been tradition in Japan. Not to mis-utilise his time was something his parents had instilled upon him as morals and ethics. It flowed through his veins, fused within his soul. That was the reason he did most of his chores by himself even at this date when people let assembled plastics with integrated circuits do that for them. And they still don’t think they are lazy!

 

He had breathed a sigh of relief when the flight had landed in time and then escorted Mr. President from there. The scheduled meeting went hopefully well and the deal was signed within two days. He was involved, of course, as a member of MEXT.

 

In the end however he was asked to visit the states to make sure whether the arrangements being made were fulfilling for Japanese transfer students. Everyone supported that, and he had agreed at last. He was just the right person for that after all. So much for having trained and graduated from US?

 

His eyes fell upon the ipad resting on the study table after returning from a shower. He picked up a book from the nearby bookshelf instead.

 

* * *

 

 

Life was beautiful. Work was strenuous.

 

Pale blue irises looked two shades paler as light from the phone screen reflected upon them. Viktor was scrolling through un-filtered news articles searching for something, anything that might have escaped his attention. East, west, south and- no not the north, cut that.

 

There was nothing scandalous floating around other than the cine-news and false rumours created time to time, just to keep people entertained. He might have indulged, but he wasn’t there for entertainment. He was there for work.

 

And work was strenuous.

 

Viktor was in New York for the General Assembly Meeting. He had arrived last night but didn’t do much, just checked in his hotel room, ordered room service, checked his email and went to sleep off his jet lag. Today had gone pretty much uneventful up until now. He peeked out of the car window. Yellow and orange blurred his vision. Peak foliage of fall, and he was here. Glancing back to his phone he closed the news app and opened his speech document.

 

He was halfway through it when the car stopped having reached its destination. He hopped out of the vehicle and entered the building going through the security checks. He walked through the hallway scrolling down his document giving it a final glance before the session. But his mind was elsewhere.

 

The recent activities of US and allies looked nothing too suspicious. Not on the surface at least. There were welfare and development programmes with a little minor issues here and there. The foreign relations were getting better. But that was supposed to be a good thing, not something one complains about, even if one felt like it. Was he getting too much into things like Yakov now?

 

No matter how many times he checked, rechecked and re-rechecked, he couldn’t shake the feeling that there must be something. Something he couldn’t put his finger on yet. The recent deal on ISEP suggested he might not be over-analysing things.

 

Articles said that the plan was pending, but then it was suddenly on full swing. The President visited Japan just two days after the official announcement. Why was that so intriguing? Because Mr. President just upped and rushed there, did what he went for, and rushed back.

 

At least that explained why Yakov had the news before he did. He wouldn’t have batted his eyes in that direction if not for the astronomical speed with which the whole thing was carried out. The idea was good, costs were okay, features sounded nice, but Viktor wasn’t convinced. All good motives aside; to fly across the oceans just to sign a deal? That didn’t sound too convincing to him. There must be something fishy. There had to be!

 

“Hello Mr. Nikiforov~”

 

There it was! Not the fishy but the fish! Viktor stopped in his tracks dreading his luck. Not this again. Why didn’t he just check his horoscope today?

 

“Mr. Leroy” he nodded towards the owner of the voice that had interrupted him.

 

“Fancy meeting you here. It’s been a while.” Leroy said as if they’d been friends from kindergarten days.

 

“Where else would I rather be?” Viktor asked with a fake-ish smile.

 

“Of course, of course. Where else would you be.” He nodded in understanding. And then started, “you know….” Whatever was coming stopped right there when his phone rang up. Viktor thanked whoever was up there looking out for him. Leroy excused himself saving Viktor an unceremonious rant for another time. Well that was a matter for another time. For now though Viktor sighed in relief.

 

Mr. Leroy was a dangerous person who liked to play with the fire. It may sound exaggerated but Viktor had chosen his words wisely.

 

To be more specifically elaborate, it was Leroy who had Yakov infuriated. His jovial nature may look friendly and socializing from afar making people often mistake his boastfulness for charm and confidence, but not to everyone. Viktor thought of him as a gaudy American. Well technically Canadian, but it’s okay. At least Viktor wasn’t like Yakov who thought- who cares what Yakov thought?

 

And what was so charming about Leroy anyway? He doesn’t even have a concept of personal-space, forget formality. After the official work was over, he would come, put his arm around your shoulder and insist that you call him King JJ instead. Or just JJ for short. Because he was born to be a king and rule over the world. Viktor would laugh off his proclamations. Yakov however.....

 

He was stuck on that “King JJ” part from the very beginning, overanalyzing things to the point where US was synonymous to Leroy and King JJ was their motives for dominating the world.

 

Viktor resumed his walk dismissing JJ from his mind and finally entered the conference hall. The meeting started not too long after, and went really boring. The day seemed to stretch longer than eternity. This is what happens when most of the world’s major problems have been solved and there’s still a meeting of nation heads. What do they discuss? Anything that somehow redirects to public safety, disease resistance, health and hygiene, cyber security etcetera etcetera. What was the topic last time? Something about……….child trafficking? Oh yes! It was about changes required in traffic rules and revising the legal age for driving. After all, vehicles didn’t run on petrol nowadays.

 

Was he supposed to pay attention? He paid half his mind anyway and focused the other half on doodling cute puppies on a scrap piece of paper.

 

* * *

 

 

Water flowed from the tap popping the soap bubbles in the sink as dishes were washed clean and set aside to dry. Soap water whirled out, water first and then the foam. Yuuri came back with a towel and reflected back on his day while drying up the plates.

 

Every day was more or less similar- office, documents, newspapers all set on a desk with a little senior politician here and there.  He felt like this desk work wasn’t meant for him. Wasn’t he supposed to be more practical in his job? Minako would always help him out with her wisdom on such occasions.

 

“There are limits to what you can do, Yuuri. You’re not a character out of a shounen manga. Being a perfectionist is good; just don’t have any illusions of an ideal world. Things would be flawed only to be made better the next time. That’s what life is all about.” She would say “Were just humans. We cannot control everything.” And he would believe her, because yes, this was no fairytale and he was no prince.

 

“And to err is human. I get it Minako sensei” he would say and sulk for a bit. To err remained human as long as that ‘err’ part wasn’t intentional. Words like modern and developed, and gadgets of xyz generation sounded good. Were they healthy though? With all the robotics and stuff, was it okay to bend the laws of nature to a level where it affected your day-to-day life so much that you might not even know what to do once things stopped working that way?

 

It was a relief that e-books weren’t made mandatory, thanks to active afforestation programmes for controlling pollution and global warming. At least children should have a normal childhood like normal human beings without any technology spam.

 

Thinking back on that he recalled something; normal human beings had friends too. Maybe doing a little good for yourself was human after all. He placed the dried dishes on their designated spots in the kitchen cupboard and went to his living room. A smile crept up his lips as his eyes fell on the iPad placed on the study table. He picked it up, searched for a contact and dialed a number. The call was received after two rings.

 

“Yuuriiiii!!!” the person on the other side shrieked.

 

“Hi Phichit” he smiled.

 

“How are you buddy? You never text, you never call. You’ve been busy!” the buy on the other side gasped placing his free hand over his heart. “You’ve forgotten me!!!”

 

Phichit was a Thai skater and Yuuri’s best friend. They had trained together in Detroit and were roommates. Yuuri, Phichit and Phichit’s hamsters all lived peacefully in their apartment. And that was two years ago.

 

“Oh come on! Don’t be ridiculous!” Yuuri snorted at his friend’s antics.

 

“After you left me to endure Ciao Ciao’s harsh training all by myself? Yes I’ve been ridiculous” he stated it as if stating a fact, and then added in a softer tone, “Things haven’t been the same without you.”

 

“I’m visiting…..” Yuuri trailed off, thinking what to say and what not. It was an official tour not some holiday vacation.

 

“You’re coming here?! How?! When?!” Phichit was practically bouncing off his feet at this point. “You’ll visit us right?”

 

“Of course I will” Yuuri nodded, “Well the main reason I’m going is because it’s a trip for that ISEP deal recently. I think I can extend my stay enough to visit you for a couple of days.”

 

“Wow!” Phichit said in wonder, “You’re acting all grown up and matured leader now huh? What did you do to my small, innocent Yuuri?”

 

“Oh please! I had to agree because the President suggested and all others agreed.”

 

“You mean you wouldn’t have come see me otherwise?”

 

“That’s not what I mean!”

 

“I know what you mean” Phichit raised his right index finger and started in a serious voice, “I’m the great Yuuri Katsuki, retired figure skater and active politician, who also happens to be very popular that Presidents of other countries come to invite me there. Now, all hail before my charms!”

 

“Stop it!” Yuuri was trying really hard and visibly failing in controlling his laughter.

 

“Should I?” Phichit raised an eyebrow, “I think I should make up for all the time we’ve lost. Well as much as I can on facetime of course” he said with a devious smirk, and then started with mock innocence, “Why tell me Minister-sama, you won’t turn down a student would you? You’ve to hear out his pleas for help as his soul is being crushed and tortured by sems and skating practice. How will he endure all this mental and physical trauma after a betrayed friendship?”

 

“Okay! Okay! I give up!”

 

Laughter echoed through his apartment for the next thirty minutes.

 

* * *

 

  


Of all his pastimes in the world, the one Viktor most disliked was waiting in Yakov’s office after the meetings were officially over, to discuss matters that did not even concern him. Doesn’t sound like a pastime to you? Well not everyone could sympathise with him.

 

It wasn’t like he had any other pastime though. Skating was more of a passion, and rest of his life went immersed in newspapers and office documents. He had returned from New York after enduring the longest, harshest and boring-est days of his lifetime. Now, he was sitting here enduring the dumbest, silliest and laziest moments of his life’s time.

 

And what a wonderful time to be here in the chilly December! He was amused by the slight distress betraying Yakov’s Grim Reaper façade, even more so by how a file was closed within two minutes that usually should have lasted at least seven minutes and forty-five seconds. How intriguing!

 

“So-”, Viktor started, “about the General Assembly…”

 

“Everything went just fine, isn’t it?” Yakov exhaled looking more relaxed than he had looked in the last thirty minutes. “Except that they wouldn’t give away anything about their concept of global safety this time either” he said the last part as if he had seen in coming from a mile away.

 

“It’s not like they’ve been forcing us, are they? It’s just Mr. Leroy” Viktor said.

 

That was true actually, Mr. Leroy was the head of US’s foreign department, and had visited Russia on a few occasions. He has an ambitious aura floating around him all the time.

 

To others, he was a proud public figure. To Viktor, he was just too ostentatious. To Yakov however-

 

“What about Mr. Leroy? No one says things like world domination meaning nothing out of it! Not when someone is the representative of a country in those matters!”

 

If things were to be considered technically, it was Mr. Leroy and some who were after Russia and its defense weaponries. Both the governments had talked on the matter of course, but no compromises were made, and things had been settled on good terms. That however was not what bothered Yakov, and hence indirectly Viktor.

 

Mr. Leroy’s unofficial talks which were always about official things were subtle yet provocative. What was more infuriating was that he’d pick up his words so carefully, you’d get the message but can’t get a hold of him. Yakov was so caught up on him, Viktor was afraid he’d have beaten morals and mannerisms into him, if not aware of the scandal that would create.

 

“He called earlier” Viktor supplied, “said they want to extend their ISEP programme to Russia, and would like to discuss the further details in person if we are interested.”

 

“He said what now? Weren’t they at Japan a while ago?” Yakov’s face started changing its colour.

 

“Japan was over a month ago, and too recent to get involved. It’s been coming from the European side for a long time now”, was Vikor’s brief reply.

 

“Coming from the East and West, because South wasn’t an option and there is no North? Why do I feel like they want to swallow us up?” Yakov grumbled.

 

“It was an official proposal, Yakov.”

 

“He wants to manipulate our children with this. I’ll teach that brat a lesson! I will never allow it!” And there it was, the scary scarlet Yakov for you.

 

“And how will you show your face at the Security Council then?” Viktor asked feeling suddenly bemused. All he got in reply was a death glare. He tried not to chuckle, “Cool down a little, Yakov” and passed him a glass of water which was not so gratefully accepted. “Or might I take you home tonight? It’s cold and my heating system gets to rest for a day, your presence enough will heat up the entire block. Wouldn’t that save energy?” Viktor joked, or tried to at least, because the result was another death glare, a little ‘more’ unimpressed this time.

 

He sighed and carried on anyway, “It was a proposal from the government, nothing to do with Leroy in particular.”

 

“Both are the same to me.”

 

“But they aren’t!”

 

“We’ll find that soon enough!”

 

Viktor sighed again, in defeat this time, and then again looked up, “You cannot go out of your way to ask if they are plotting something against you and warn them not to do something stupid, just because you suspect that.”

 

Yakov didn’t reply to this, but the look he gave said enough about how well he knew that, and ‘that’ was indeed the problem. “What about the border issues? ‘Heard there’s some activity again”, he asked instead, after a moment.

 

“What about them?” Viktor sat back, relaxed in his chair, “trying to break our walls and managing to leave scramble marks instead” he said.

 

Yakov rose up from his chair muttering to himself about some people never learning a lesson. Viktor just hummed and drowned into his thoughts. Thinking back, it wasn’t just Yakov who was affected that much by Leroy, it had rubbed off a little on Viktor too, and being the responsible Foreign Minister that he was, he had to over-analyse it too, sometimes. Maybe they are trying to provoke them for making the first move, Leroy never tried to have a clean image before them so- but that was just a ‘maybe’. The meeting was finally over, leaving him with a lot of homework and a lot more to ponder upon.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are some facts-
> 
>  
> 
> 1\. I won't make US the bad guy here, so there's JJ for you. I'm sorry all JJ fans, I can't blame the whole governments, and who am I to decide what they'll do? Everyone's working to make the world a better place remember? So I'll just make do with JJ for now.
> 
> 2\. It's a modern setting, well that much is evident from Yuuri's POV. So more or less everything here is purely fictional.
> 
> 3\. International organisations are out of everyone's reach, so when I mentioned them, I tried to make it very brief (because the script demands a Prince).
> 
>  
> 
> That's all for now. I'll try to make the next chapter more interesting.
> 
> Spoiler? How about a Banquet? ;)


End file.
